ESSEX COUNTY. 
233 
Navy Yard, Washington, June 12, 1829. 
Sir —In compliance with your order, we have proved four links of li inch iron from the manufac¬ 
tory of Messrs. Penfield & Taft, connected with 10 fathoms of the same size from Holly & Co., with 
4i fathoms of 2 inch chain from Ridgley’s works, and beg leave to report as follows: First trial, one 
2 inch link broke in the solid, 384 lbs. in the scale; second trial, one inch link of Holly’s iron 
broke in the solid, and fractured two others considerably, with 418 lbs. in the scale, and no visible 
injury to Penfield’s sample. JAMES TUCKER, 
Com. Isaac Hull. JOHN JUDGE. 
Navy Yard, Washington, January 20, 1829. 
Sir —Agreeable to your orders, we have tried a sample of iron from the works of Penfield &, Taft, 
Crown-Point, New-York, and find it far superior to any that has hitherto come under our notice in this 
Yard, both for chain cables and common purposes. JOHN DAVIS, 
JAMES TUCKER, 
Capt. Thomas H. Stevens. JOHN JUDGE. 
This is to certify that I have proved the iron made from Penfield’s &. Taft’s ore, on a powerful hy¬ 
draulic machine, which I use for the purpose of trying chain cables, and find it to be superior to any 
iron I have heretofore used for the purpose of making chains. JOEL JOHNSON. 
New-York, June 6, 1829. 
Sterling Company's Works. 
From the experiments detailed in the above statements, the true value of tlie Penfield or 
Crown-Point ore maybe seen; and if American iron, furnishing such tests of its strength, 
cannot find a market, we ought to attribute it to the determination of the public to patronize 
the use of foreign iron, without regard to value, strength, or any superior properties which 
American iron may possess. 
The Penfield vein is capable of yielding a vast amount of ore ; its width being at least forty 
feet, the central portion of which is very rich, while probably the whole vein would yield 
fifty per cent of ore. The walls of this vein are not well defined, a fact which would be 
inferred from the remarks already made ; neither is the dip very distinct, but the mass of ore 
appears to widen on both sides as it descends into the rock. The whole extent of the vein 
upon the surface has never been proved, but it has been traced at least half a mile. 
Another vein, or an extension of that of Penfield, has been discovered and opened half a 
mile south of the foregoing one. It possesses the same general qualities as the Penfield vein, 
and examination shows that it is equally extensive. It is free from pyrites, or other sub¬ 
stances which are known to injure the qualities of iron, and its gangue is also a jiure grey 
quartz. 
The ores described above require, in order to prepare them for smelting, to be first pounded 
or stamped, and then washed, or freed from earthy matter by the magnetic separating ma¬ 
chine : the latter mode is the one usually employed at the forges of Mr. Penfield. In this 
process, the pounded ore is introduced into a cylinder, about two and a half feet in diameter 
and five feet in length, studded with bar magnets. As the cylinder revolves, the pure ore is 
Geol. 2d Dist. 30 
